A week after Gov. Mark Dayton asked Minnesotans to suggest ways to make state government work better, faster or simpler, 139 citizens had sent ideas to his Internet suggestion box.

The governor is looking for ideas to submit to an “unsession” of the Legislature next year that would undo unnecessary laws, rules and regulations.

Some citizen suggestions that arrived by the end of the day Friday were just common sense, such as one that recommended turning off the lights in vacant state offices.

Another suggested rewarding state agencies for reducing costs while delivering better services.

How about creating employee vegetable gardens near state buildings? “Healthy eating and physical activity would benefit employees and maybe cut insurance costs in the future,” the author wrote.

A few people wanted to repeal the state ban on Sunday liquor sales — and not only to generate more tax revenue.

“I would rather my husband drink beer and watch football at home than go to the bar and watch just to drive home after,” one suggestion read.

Politicians often joke about the following idea, but a citizen offered it seriously:

“Hold a giant, annual bake sale at the state Capitol that supports a bipartisan cause, like the elimination of Asian carp,” the writer said. “But this would be bigger and generate more revenue than a simple bake sale. There would be politician dunk tanks and a competition by political parties to see who could raise the most money.”

Several proposed reducing the size of the Legislature.

One suggestion went ever further:

“I submit that the entire state government, including every member of the Legislature, resign and not be able to run for office for at least six years to allow new people with new ideas a chance to govern.”

The author didn’t explain how that would reduce costs or make government run better.

Others suggestions praised the idea of legalizing marijuana.

“This idea has merit on many different levels,” one proponent wrote. “Saves the state money on silly drug-law enforcement. Produces new revenue due to taxing the sale of a safer recreational drug. Reduces our prison population and stops the racism displayed in the enforcement of current drug laws.”

On Wednesday, state Rep. Kurt Zellers, one of five Republicans seeking the governor’s job, sent an email to supporters urging them to suggest repealing the three new business-to-business taxes that Dayton and the DFL-controlled Legislature passed last spring.

However, as of 5 p.m. Friday, only one person had sent the message Zellers had called for.

Bill Salisbury has been a newspaper reporter since 1971. He started covering the Minnesota Capitol for the Rochester Post-Bulletin in 1975, joined the Pioneer Press as a general assignment reporter in 1977 and was assigned to the Capitol bureau in 1978. He was the paper's Washington correspondent from 1994 through 1999, when he returned to the Capitol bureau. Although he retired in January 2015, he continues to work at the Capitol part time.

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